Wednesday, May 30, 2012

birthday kawaii (arpakassos & mamegoma)

Ok, so I'm sure you're all sick and tired of staring at my much anticipated wedding post, as excited as you all were at seeing my dress and all the wedding pictures, I'm sure you're sick of it by now. This is going to a super duper disgustingly kawaii post, so brace yourselves ladies and gents (if you don't like kawaii, gtfo. Seriously, why are you here if you don't like kawaii, it's all I blog about).

About three weeks ago, a huge package came for me. I immediately knew what it was, my kawaii birthday package! I had to refrain myself from tearing the wrapping apart like a desperate lady who needs her kawaii fix so that I could take some unboxing pictures (the things I do for you guys ;D).


Giant kawaii package

Unfortunately, it didn't make in on time for my actual birthday. In fact, it was only paid for a day or two before my birthday. But it arrived really quickly, especially since I asked for surface mail but it's entirely possible that my seller shipped it as airmail since she knew it was for my birthday...either way, I paid for it (or rather, my family did).


Squished arpakasso goodness

Look at all those arpakassos squished together! The package was huge, since I ordered a lot of kawaii as my birthday gifts (using the money that my family gave me).


Arpakasso Army!

Here is a group picture of all the arpakassos that I ordered with my birthday money. Aren't they beautiful?


Closer Shot of Upcoming Kawaii.



My First Large Arpakasso Plush!


I had been debating about whether I should get a large arpakasso plush for the longest time (basically since I got one for my sister's Christmas present). I kept telling myself that I didn't need a giant arpakasso(honestly, who needs anything of this but that's besides the point) and that I'd have no where to put it and that money was tight (all very valid reasons). But my sister offered to get it for me for my birthday so all my reasons against getting one flew right out the window and got hit by a snow removal truck.


Strawberry Baby Arpakassos

I had the hardest time deciding which one I wanted, it was between D and C. After consulting my sister, I decided to get C. I normally much prefer the guy arpakassos and than the girl ones because I think they look much cuter. By "guy" I mean the one without eyelashes, I guess guys can have eyelashes but not like mascara lathered eyelashes like some of them have.


Macaroon Arpakassos & Purple Cotton Candy Arpakassos

Here are my larger arpakassos. I love the colours of the newer macaroon arpakassos, they're a lighter pastel colour than the older ones.


Large Arpakasso Pouch

My first arpakasso pouch too! I finally caved and got one of these also. At first, I wasn't able to get this colour since someone has already bought it so I decided to get a pink one but it turns out that Yumi had a second one so life was good. I was surprised at how big this pouch is, it's like..pretty big. I thought that you'd only be able to put a key and maybe change in it but you can put quite a bit more than that (but your arpakasso would be fat). To demonstrate, I put one of my little mamegomas in.


Mamegoma says, "Hi!"



Arpakasso Coin Pouch

This one is small and you can pretty much fit a few keys and loose change.



Has your brain exploded from kawaii overload yet? No? Keep reading!

I also bought a few mamegoma plushes. His new look is too cute to resist. When you combine animals that are fat and round, it pretty much guarantees kawaii. Mamegoma is proof of this.


Fat Mamegoma Plush & Straps



Mamegoma Tower!

These are really tiny beanie plushes and they're really expensive for their size. But as I mentioned, they're just too cute! I had bought every single one except the yellow but Yumi threw it in as a freebie. She said that way, I have the whole group, so nice of her!


Mamegoma Butt Tower



Mamegoma Beanie Straps

These are about double the size of the beanie plushes and they're also filled with beanies. But they're much lighter than the smaller ones.


Fat Mamegomas All Trying To Squeeze In.


So that's what I got for my birthday this year. It was the first time in a long time that I didn't ask for clothes or anything useful. Teehee.

I'm also selling some of my arpakassos and other kawaii here. Some of have been sold and they'll have a "Gone" note on them. But if you're interested in anything, feel free to comment on my flickr (if you have flickr) or just leave a comment on my blog with your contact info! And please, serious buyers only :)

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

❤ mike & christina's wedding

So here's the post that you've all been waiting for....

THE WEDDING POST!!!


Ok, so the wedding was AMAZING! The weather couldn't have been more perfect, it was 22 Celsius, nice and warm but not hot. After a week and a half of rain, it almost seemed as if the weather purposely got better just for them, and why shouldn't it, they're awesome people.

I don't have actual pictures of the bride and groom because I was stuck doing my CMA review until the evening so I wasn't able to attend the ceremony at the church, even though I really wanted to. Instead, I stole a whole bunch of pictures from their wedding photographer. I'm sure he won't mind since he has his watermark on the photos and I'm creating awareness about his business. Enough blah blah from, onward with the pictures!




Christina, the beautiful bride!





Mother & Daughter.






Look at his face! Pure happiness.



The Signing.



Married!



In front of the church.



Father & Daughter



Mike & Christina, the perfect couple!





Wedding Party @ Circuit Jacques Villeneuve.


So now here are the pictures that I took! It took me about two hours to get ready and I wore impossibly high heels. I couldn't walk in them but my legs looked a few miles long! Alex and I made it on time for the reception, which was at the Crown Plaza Hotel. The reception was held both inside and outside. All the food was inside but there was a sitting area outside.


Fresh wood fire baked pizzas



Deep fried section.









Different types of caviar.



Fresh seafood. I'm in heaven!



Look at the size of those lobsters!



Two guys just opening oysters.

Ok, so I've never had oyster before, at least not raw and definitely not the way fancy people do it, the whole slurping it and stuff (although in my opinion, fancy people shouldn't slurp, but what I know, I'm not fancy). I decided to try it even though it looks revolting, you only live once, right? After some instructions from Alex (tilt and slurp), I (barely) managed to gulp the oyster down. It was surprisingly good, tasted like salt water and slimy (if slimy had a taste).


Portion of the bread section. The Italians and Portugese MUST have their bread! I think I'm turning into one of them!



Bread & Parmigiano cheese, proof that Heaven does exist.



Alligator and turtle bread.



Cheese for everyone!





Different cuts of pork. Poor little piglet :(


That was the food available during the reception. There was also a booth or two outside where they were serving grilled meats and veggies. There was grilled lamb chops outside. It was so good! There was so much food available and it was only the reception. I was already comfortable not eating for the rest of the night and supper wasn't even served yet. After we were finished eating, we just wandered around the hotel. Alex made his grandfather put on his sunglasses. The result; Men in Black!


Alex, his grandfather and his brother, J.



Alex's mom, his grandfather and J. His dad is in the background on the right.


It took us about half an hour to 45 mins to get into the hall because the bride and groom, as well as the wedding party were stationed at the entrance and everyone offered their congratulations, one by one. My feet were killing me. I felt like someone chopped off my feet and put stilts on my stubs. Ew.

Once inside, it was gorgeous! Dimmed pink and purple lights everywhere. We were placed at Table 19 but thankfully, we didn't have to wander around aimlessly trying to find it. There was a hotel staff at the entrance and she directed us to our table, not that she needed to. Alex's parents were waving frantically from the table, it looked like they were trying to flag a boat.
















Menu for the night.



Toasting champagne, pink to match everything else.



Olive bread, the best type of bread that ever existed



This was delicious. The best part of the supper, tied with the salade.



Sorbet to cleanse your palate.



One of the best salades I've ever had (not that I eat much salade...but still).





They had an amazing sweets table but I didn't take any pictures. It wasn't even a table, it was like...a sweets room. They had cookies in clear cookie jars, biscotti's, candy, poutine (omg, what!?), pogos, cakes, pastries, you name it. But I went about 10 mins after it opened and everything was pretty much gone and it would've been some pretty sad pictures.

Alright, we're getting to the part that all of you have been waiting for....MY DRESS!

















Building up a bit of suspense...
































TA-DAH!

I tried to find an official picture of it but it doesn't seem to exist. Doesn't matter. It's not the type of dress that I'd normally wear, I usually wear black (or black with some white patterns). I also don't normally wear clothes that really draw attention to myself but this red is really eye catching, even more so since I was pretty much the only person who wore a really bright dress. Although this dress is outside of my comfort zone, I'm glad that I purchased it and wore it to the wedding (I mean it is a wedding, wedding = bright dresses). It's also a dress that I can wear to other parties. Alex loves it (obviously, even if he didn't, he wouldn't exactly say it if he knows what's good for him).





As much as I hate this picture, no, abhor it, I posted it so you can see my dress from top to bottom. I look totally bloated and FAT (I did eat enough for an army or two though). Alex looks like he isn't sure if he should smile or not. This will have to do until someone sends me a better picture of myself. See I put myself through for you guys ;)

We left at around 2:30 AM and by this point, I had been wearing my super high heels for over 8 hours and desperately couldn't wait to take them off for good. I only ended up with one blister on my side of my right food, which disappeared after a day or two. When we got back home, it around 3 and by the time I got undressed and removed all my makeup etc., it was 3:30. I crashed and slept like a baby until I was rudely awakened by Alex singing his mom a mother's day song.

I hope you guys enjoyed the post and that my dress was worth waiting for (even if wasn't, just pretend that it was, I like to feel special)!